A Sugar Free, Dairy Free, Silky Smooth, Soul-Warming Sipper
Last winter I shared A Healthy Hot Cocoa Recipe with you all. That recipe was my breakfast pretty much every day last winter, as my morning cocoa is a protein and healthy fat packed, sugar and dairy free, all around fantastic way to start one's day.
However, as good as that hot cocoa recipe is, I am always tinkering with my recipes. In all honesty, a lot of the time my recipe tinkering comes about due to a lack of ingredient availability. My other recipe used a chunk of high grade unsweetened chocolate, and that stuff is expensive. Another factor is a bar of chocolate only goes so far. I looked into buying big chunks of unsweetened, high grade chocolate for my cocoa, but then inspiration struck. I always have powdered unsweetened cocoa on hand, so why couldn't I just buy raw cacao butter and make my morning hot cocoa that way?
Fast forward a few shipping days and I had a 1 lb bag of Raw Cacao Butter sitting on my counter. Soon after opening the bag my first cacao caused problem developed. My family heard a rapturous sigh escape my lips and they all stared at me in the way you stare at a warthog scratching his rump on a stump. I had my nose stuck in the bag of the cacao butter and was stuck on inhalation repeat. Cacao butter may not be much to look at, but it wins beyond measure in the smells department. Raw cacao butter is my Katnip! Seriously, if you put some cacao butter on the floor, I couldn't walk by it, and I might even stop and roll in it! Of all the foods I have enjoyed thus far in my life, I am reasonably sure that raw cacao butter is up there on my favorite's list.
It turns out that my ambrosia scented favorite fat of all time is really quite good for you. I mean, it says on the back of the cacao butter bag that it is the "Food of the Gods." You can't go wrong eating the food of mythological deity preference. There's also the neat statement: "cacao contains one of the highest concentrations of magnesium and antioxidants of any food on the planet." The Internets are also full of countless pro-cacao statements galore. Now, I know this might come as quite a shocker, but I tend to be skeptical of almost every health claim I read, especially those on the Web. Shocking I know! However, when it comes to my health and the food that I ingest, I find that sticking to raw, simple, and unprocessed whole foods tends to be the way to go. Raw cacao butter is a fat plain and simple. Our brains and bodies need healthy fats to function at their best level. It's just a nice bonus that this particular fat smells like heaven and makes one's hot cocoa taste like chocolate silk!
Also, and I know genetics play in heavily too, but I have really, really healthy, wrinkle free skin that glows. At 36 years old I am routinely mistaken for someone in my early to mid twenties, and some of that healthful, youthful glow I attribute to my cacao butter, collagen, and sugar-free hot cocoa consumption.
Okay, enough blathering about the extraordinary components in my hot cocoa recipe, it's time for the how-to part of this post:
All hot cocoas start with a milk component. I have always disliked animal milk, with the occasional exception of cow or goat's milk raw right out of the teat, strained and chilled of course. As I am not milking any livestock this winter and tend to enjoy milks that don't wreak havoc with my blood sugar and inflammation levels, I poured some unsweetened almond milk in my little sauce pot atop my filthy stove. I have also enjoyed coconut milk and cashew milk as a base for my hot cocoa.
Next comes the sweetener part of the hot cocoa party! Wow, if there is ever a topic for debate, alternative sweeteners are it! I feel better when I don't eat sweeteners that raise my blood sugar. Period. Thus far, out of all of the alternative options that I have tried, I have enjoyed the Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet sweetener the most. It is a mix of Xylitol, Erythritol, and stevia. I like it, my teeth like it, my gut isn't bothered by it, and if I croak at 70 instead of 85 because of it, so be it! That said, I am cool with whatever sweetener anyone wants to use, whether it be granulated, beet-derived table sugar or the powdered leaf of the maka-sucre bippty-boo plant. Use what fits your personal health philosophy and we're cool, I'm all about personal liberty and informed research.
The next edition to the cocoa pool is unsweetened, powdered baking cocoa. I might like chocolate so much that I buy this stuff in bulk and have more than a small amount of it lying around.
My preferred sweetener combo right now is Gentle Sweet with a little powdered stevia extract kicker. The combination of those two sweeteners gives my creations just the right amount of no aftertaste sweetness. My favorite stevia brand thus far is the Trim Healthy Mama brand, but I also have a stevia plant that I plan to derive my own extract from. If I ever get around to that project. It could happen. Someday.
Ahh, integral collagen. I have waxed poetic about this ingredient many, many times. If I could recommend just one ingredient that has given my health an overall boost, I would probably say integral hydrolyzed collagen. You can mix it into any hot and cold drink and your hair, nails, skin, and gut will thank you!
After everything is added into the cocoa pool, you can heat and whisk your cocoa concoction until is thoroughly heated and whisk-combined. I never let my cocoa get above a simmer, as I don't want to destroy too many nutrients by over heating the stuff. Plus, almond milk tastes kinda nasty after it has boiled. I would know, as sometimes I get crazy busy in the morning tending to my herd and over cook my cocoa. BLARGH!
And that would be it! This recipe is really simple, fast to prepare, and above all, tastes amazing! Nothing makes me happier than a toasty cup of get up and go hot cocoa on a frigid winter morning!
Generikat's Favorite Hot Cocoa
12 ounces unsweetened almond milk
1 Tablespoon unsweetened powdered baking cocoa
1 Teaspoon-1 Tablespoon raw cacao butter
1 Tablespoon Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet
2 doonks of stevia extract (A doonk is 1/32 teaspoon)
1 scoop of integral hydrolyzed collagen (1-2 Tablespoons)
a pinch of sea saltDirections:
Place a small sauce pan on a burner and pour your milk of choice into the pan. Add remaining ingredients on medium >heat, whisking until cacao butter is melted and hot cocoa is combined and heated through. DO NOT BOIL!
Pour into a cup and sip the cocaobrosia-exquisitelicious amazingness!
Additional cacao-relevant addendum: For an even more emulsified experience, you can throw your heated hot cocoa in the blender and blend it a bit. Some people don't like the cacao oil slick that can result from not blending. It doesn't bother me one bit, but I thought I would throw this little preparation tidbit out there for those that might enjoy it. Also, cacao butter is spectacular in coffee!
And as always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's cacao butter scented iPhone.
